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Who sucks?

pure_mercury

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Yes, but she's still selling out shows.

What is the appeal, not what was the appeal?

Oh, that's a better question. I guess because her fans are very hardcore, and her tours are big deals for them (even if the new music isn't that great, the production values are amazing). She still turns out a good single every now and then. It's really surprising how many great songs she had in the '90s. You don't really get un-famous after being as big as she was 20 years ago. I will always defend Madonna, though, because she is one of the few stars who was both a global phenomenon AND a great artist for a long time.
 

Geoff

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Madonna lives quite close to me. Not that this stops her sucking. Hey, it might increase her suckiness. Just sayin'.
 

Tallulah

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I don't get the appeal of Madonna, either. I mean, I guess I get why certain personalities would dig the idea of a woman who's all about pushing the envelope, but I don't get why anyone would want to buy her cds. But then, I don't care for dance music, which by and large, sucks.

Geoff, I don't think you're causing Madonna's suckitude, but if you don't get out fast, hers might rub off on you. :doh:
 

ajblaise

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Oh, that's a better question. I guess because her fans are very hardcore, and her tours are big deals for them (even if the new music isn't that great, the production values are amazing). She still turns out a good single every now and then. It's really surprising how many great songs she had in the '90s. You don't really get un-famous after being as big as she was 20 years ago. I will always defend Madonna, though, because she is one of the few stars who was both a global phenomenon AND a great artist for a long time.

She doesn't write the music, she doesn't direct the videos, her voice is nothing special, does she even write her own lyrics?

Seems to me that as far as art goes, she just buys it from other people and puts it all under her name, like many pop artists do.
 

pure_mercury

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She doesn't write the music, she doesn't direct the videos, her voice is nothing special, does she even write her own lyrics?

Seems to me that as far as art goes, she just buys it from other people and puts it all under her name, like many pop artists do.

She writes the lyrics with writing partners (she and Patrick Leonard worked together on many of her biggest songs). She also is involved in the concepts and set designs of her videos, photos, and concerts. I actually find her voice (starting around True Blue, when she stopped with the baby-voice stuff) to be quite nice. She's also a fantastic dancer.

You seem to be under the impression that the most important things when it comes to music is that one person or a tight-knit group spends lots of time slaving over it and then playing it in front of crowds of people, and that other vehicles of expression aren't as valid. I wholeheartedly disagree. Look at Motown. That music literally was made in a factory, with songwriters producing lyrics and/or melodies, then a house band working on the music, and then the best singer available brought in to sing the song. That music also happens to be almost all spectacular. Madonna was one of the first female artists to exercise control over both her music and her image, so I think she should be celebrated for that, but, in the end, it's the sounds coming out of the speakers that matter, NOT the manner in which it go there.
 

LadyJaye

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GEORGE MICHAEL.

I'm pretty sure ever horrible number one hit he's had has been scrolling tortuously through my head for the last three days.
 

ajblaise

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She writes the lyrics with writing partners (she and Patrick Leonard worked together on many of her biggest songs). She also is involved in the concepts and set designs of her videos, photos, and concerts. I actually find her voice (starting around True Blue, when she stopped with the baby-voice stuff) to be quite nice. She's also a fantastic dancer.

You seem to be under the impression that the most important things when it comes to music is that one person or a tight-knit group spends lots of time slaving over it and then playing it in front of crowds of people, and that other vehicles of expression aren't as valid. I wholeheartedly disagree. Look at Motown. That music literally was made in a factory, with songwriters producing lyrics and/or melodies, then a house band working on the music, and then the best singer available brought in to sing the song. That music also happens to be almost all spectacular. Madonna was one of the first female artists to exercise control over both her music and her image, so I think she should be celebrated for that, but, in the end, it's the sounds coming out of the speakers that matter, NOT the manner in which it go there.

There's nothing wrong with large groups of people being involved in the writing process, but if someone doesn't write the music and doesn't even write all of her own lyrics, that person isn't as much of an artist as one that does write their own music and lyrics.

A lot of her fame is from just being sexy on camera. Image over music and substance...that's what's killing music.
 

pure_mercury

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There's nothing wrong with large groups of people being involved in the writing process, but if someone doesn't write the music and doesn't even write all of her own lyrics, that person isn't as much of an artist as one that does write their own music and lyrics.

A lot of her fame is from just being sexy on camera. Image over music and substance...that's what's killing music.

But her music in the '80s and early-'90s was GREAT. That is what matters.
 

pure_mercury

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GEORGE MICHAEL.

I'm pretty sure ever horrible number one hit he's had has been scrolling tortuously through my head for the last three days.

He had a few good tracks. "Freedom" rocked. "Careless Whisper" was pretty good. "Father Figure" is a beautiful song in a very, very creepy way.
 

ajblaise

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But her music in the '80s and early-'90s was GREAT. That is what matters.

Maybe to you and my little sisters it was great. To me it was overproduced pop fluff.

And technically, it wasn't mostly her music. Her name is just stamped on the collective effort.
 

Geoff

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I don't get the appeal of Madonna, either. I mean, I guess I get why certain personalities would dig the idea of a woman who's all about pushing the envelope, but I don't get why anyone would want to buy her cds. But then, I don't care for dance music, which by and large, sucks.

Geoff, I don't think you're causing Madonna's suckitude, but if you don't get out fast, hers might rub off on you. :doh:

Ptthhfft! I'm the one living in the correct county, not her :p
 

pure_mercury

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Maybe to you and my little sisters it was great. To me it was overproduced pop fluff.

And technically, it wasn't mostly her music. Her name is just stamped on the collective effort.

Or to the consensus of professional music critics, and to tens of millions of discerning pop music fans.
 

ajblaise

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Even Britney Spears won a Grammy. She has millions of fans also. Yet she's still a shitty artist.

What musical talent does she have?
 

pure_mercury

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Even Britney Spears won a Grammy. She has millions of fans also. Yet she's still a shitty artist.

What musical talent does she have?


Britney Spears has had three or four good singles in her career ("Toxic," for instance, is about 8,000,000 times better than those videos you posted), but has mostly been bad. I didn't mentioned Grammys before, because they are a TERRIBLE way to measure quality and even critical acclaim. Those people are awful about judging music.
 

ajblaise

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Britney Spears has had three or four good singles in her career ("Toxic," for instance, is about 8,000,000 times better than those videos you posted), but has mostly been bad. I didn't mentioned Grammys before, because they are a TERRIBLE way to measure quality and even critical acclaim. Those people are awful about judging music.

I guess we just have very different standards for judging music. There's nothing special, different, creative, complex, unique about most pop music. It's made by big corporations to make money off of 12 year old girls with a big allowance.

Walk into any jazz music club, and you will find more musical talent there than in Toxic and Like A Virgin. The videos I posted take actual musical talent to play, something these pop artists don't have.
 
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